ATV Big Brother
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska Date: June 11, 1991 Story On June 11, 1991, in Fairbanks, Alaska, Ruth Fenwick, her husband, Jim, and their three sons, Jesse, Roman, and Levi, were finishing dinner. Eleven-year-old Levi had just gotten his ATV the day before. "Levi was excited because he just got his three wheeler," remembers Ruth. She went on check on the horses, but they both broke loose. Jim stayed at the house while Ruth and the boys searched for them. "Ruth took off on foot, Jesse and Roman jumped into Roman's pickup truck, and Levi jumped on his three wheeler and took off," said Jim. Jesse knew that something would happen and saw Levi driving down the trail fast. "His back end kept on bouncing up," said Jesse. His ATV hit a rock, flipped, and landed on him, leaving him unconscious. Ruth was just putting the horses away when she heard Jesse scream that Levi was hurt bad. "I was really scared and I got going as fast as I could," said Ruth. Roman saw that Levi was bleeding, grabbed his head, and rolled him back. "He was breathing real weak, but was getting air in his lungs. When he didn't move I knew something was seriously wrong," said Roman. While Roman tried to keep Levi alive, Ruth ran back to the house and told Jim that Levi was injured. "I just threw down the tools and everything because I didn't mean to mess around anything except get to my kid," said Jim. Ruth called 911 while Jim ran out to see what had happened. Two river rescue units and an interior ambulance were immediately dispatched, but the ambulance was more than twenty miles away. "I started to check Levi's vital signs and his arms and everything, and he couldn't feel anything," said Jim. He ran back to the house when the phone rang and told the dispatcher that Levi's eyes were dilated and he couldn't feel anything. Levi was complaining of neck pain and couldn't feel it. "I had to tell my mom to back off, but that was kind of difficult because I could see the shape she was in," said Roman. Volunteer EMT Tracy Ogden, a close friend and neighbor, came to see if she could help. "When I got there, I lowered his collar and looked at his neck and in my mind, I remember thinking, 'His neck is broke and this is really bad.' I was afraid that maybe it could be even worse. I didn't want to believe that but I was scared," said Tracy. Within ten minutes of the call, the two river rescue units arrived. EMT Tom Niro was already on the scene. Ruth couldn't handle it and felt helpless. "I couldn't do anything for him except pray," said Ruth. Levi was transported to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and put under the care of orthopedic surgeon Dr. Ralph Marks. "From the X-rays, we could see that he had torn everything that holds his neck together. We don't like to say that he's very close to death," said Dr. Marks. He told Jim and Ruth that Levi's injuries were very serious and that they would have to take him to the operating room. "They didn't give us any guarantee at all that he was going to even make it off the operating table," said Jim. Levi underwent three hours of surgery and was transferred to Intensive Care. During the first couple of days, Levi was in and out and had lots of questions and asked Ruth why he couldn't move yet. "And I was able to explain to him how Roman really helped him and how close he came. Levi was moved by what Ruth told him and really wanted to see Roman. Four days passed. Levi began to slowly recover and began daily physical therapy. "I never realized how much I cared for him, until the accident. You got to take things seriously," said Roman. "It took real knowledge on Roman's part to try to calm Levi down, to hold his head still, and what he did saved his life. Levi is very fortuante to have gotten the good result he did. Most people don't and my opinion in the prevention of the problem is don't ride three wheelers," said Dr. Marks. One month after the accident, Levi surprised everyone by being able to walk out of the hospital, but he still wears the halo neck brace. "I got my feeling back, but I'm still weak and that's getting better rapidly. I'm just really thankful that Roman saved my life," said Levi. "They're brothers and they fight like cats and dogs, but the accident brought them a lot closer. That's a lifetime," said Ruth. Category:1991 Category:Alaska Category:Motor-Vehicle Accidents Category:Kid Heroes